


a secret santa story

by cabooseachievables



Category: Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: F/F, and i love writing two gays secretly but obviously pine over each other, i love holiday and winter fanfic tropes, they also go to hot topic at some point so there's that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 10:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13144455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabooseachievables/pseuds/cabooseachievables
Summary: The Ranger gang decides to do Secret Santa for Christmas this year! Trini struggles to find the perfect gift for Billy while also trying to deal with her giant crush on Kimberly Hart.For Saira (a.k.a @powerrangershumour on tumblr) as my Sercet Santa gift! Happy holidays! :D





	a secret santa story

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for @powerrangershumour as a part of the Trimberly Dwarves Secret Santa. Hope you enjoy!!

The sound of Mariah Carey’s voice could be heard from down the block as Trini walked toward Jason’s house in the middle of a cold afternoon. It was a Saturday, and the group of friends had agreed to hang out in Jason’s living room for a while before training. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her yellow coat, protecting them from the brisk winter air. Even here in California, they weren’t safe from a bit of chilly weather.

 

_Oh, all I want for Christmas is yooou..._

 

Leave it to the Scott family to be festive and ready for the holidays despite the date only being December 1st. Their front yard was full of decorations and lights strung around the whole house, but something about the giant inflatable Santa hanging out on the front porch made Trini uneasy. By the time she’d reached the front door, Mariah’s voice was slowly fading out to interlude into the next classic Christmas song. Before the loud music would make it inaudible, Trini knocked on the door.

 

It wasn’t long before the door swung open, revealing none other than the pain-in-the-ass Zack Taylor.

 

“Hey, crazy girl!” He shouted, pulling her into the home and immediately wrapping her in a hug. “Everyone’s here already. We were about to get started without you!”

 

Grimacing, Trini pulled away and playfully shoved him back. “Yeah, yeah, I got caught up at my brother’s soccer game,” she mumbled, fingers unzipping her coat as they walked to Jason’s living room. Sure enough, the rest of their friends were already sitting on the couch singing along to White Christmas.

 

Upon their entrance, Billy excitedly waved to Trini and motioned for Jason to lower the music. As he did, Kim scooted over and patted the open cushion next to her as an invitation. (To which Trini must have visibly hesitated to, because Zack had to nudge her forward a little so she’d start moving.)

 

“Now that we’re all here,” Jason started, putting his phone off to the side. The music was now at a low volume, perfect for them to speak over. “Billy wanted to do the Secret Santa thing first. I figured we could write our names down on pieces of paper and pick them out from a hat.”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Kim agreed. With her words, she leaned closer to Trini on the couch and unintentionally sent Trini’s heart rate soaring. Maybe it was intentional? Who knows anymore. Trini simply nodded to Jason, followed by Zack with a thumbs up.

 

Billy was the one to actually bring the paper and pen, which he handed over to Jason eagerly. They’d all agreed to do Secret Santa for Christmas because it was cheaper, and— mostly— because Billy wanted to. None of them could say no to Billy. So one by one, all of their names were written down on folded pieces of paper until Jason finished.

“Trini, could we use your hat?” Jason asked, picking up the papers with one hand and holding out the other. Trini reluctantly took her beanie off and tossed it over to him.

 

“Why does it have to be my hat?” She sighed while running a hand through her hair, watching Jason throw the papers into the beanie and tossing them around.

 

Kim laughed, a better sound than any of the music on Jason’s holiday playlist, and bumped shoulders with Trini as she commented, “You’re the only one with a hat, Trin.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Alright, time to pick out names,” Jason announced, standing up and continuing to shuffle around the papers. He then held it out to Billy to select a name first. “Remember, if anyone gets themselves we have to start over.”

 

The first few attempts were failures, mainly because Zack kept pulling out his own name from the hat. After the fifth time, Zack started insisting that Jason was doing it on purpose, which only resulted in several arguments between them about Jason’s reliability as an authority figure. Regardless, they eventually made it around without anyone selecting their own name. Trini looked down at the paper in her hand, the name _BILLY :)_ written across it.

 

They spent the rest of the day hanging out at Jason’s house and training in the pit for a few hours, fighting putties until the sun went down. No one had really brought up the whole Secret Santa thing except for Zack, who went around asking who everyone had (and was ignored). Trini couldn’t blame him though, it’d only been a couple of hours and the curiosity was already eating away at her. Not even getting knocked around my monsters made of rock could get her to stop having the same thought: _I wonder who has me?_

 

It stayed with her until walking home later that evening with Kimberly, yellow coat zipped up under her chin, breath visible every time they spoke or laughed. It was already dark, but Trini liked seeing how Kim looked under the streetlights; she had a scarf wrapped around her neck just barely covering her mouth, and pink gloves that she’d owned for at least seven years. Hues of red tinted Kim’s cheeks from the cold wind.

 

She’s beautiful. And Trini is staring. How long has she been staring? Fuck.

 

Their walk fell into a silence until they were only a block away from Trini’s house, where Trini decided to bring up the thought bothering her most.

 

“So... who did you get for Secret Santa?” Trini tried to ask casually, kicking around a rock with her feet as they turned the corner.

 

Kim looked up at her incredulously, replying, “I’m not telling! That defeats the whole purpose of Secret Santa.”

 

“I guess,” Trini shrugged. They were already in front of her house, so Trini started walking towards her door. “But when you need help with gift ideas don’t come to me!”

 

When she turned to say goodbye, Kimberly was already waving from the sidewalk under the light of the nearest streetlamp. A soft smile had already plastered itself on her face as she said, “I’ll see you Monday!”

 

Beautiful.

 

And Trini is staring again. When did she start staring again? Stop it.

 

She waved goodbye silently, fighting the burning sensation in her cheeks as she unlocked the front door to her house and stepped inside.

  
  


**

  


It’s been two weeks. Trini still has absolutely no idea what to buy for Billy.

 

She’d been lying on her bed for, what, an hour now? Cycling through different ideas for what she could get for him, and somehow always rejecting whatever new gift she came up with. We’re talking about _Billy_ here, the sunshine and optimism of their team. Trini can’t get him just any present for Christmas. It has to be great, he has to love it, and he has to have a use for it. Which unfortunately narrows down the options. The time was already ticking down fast, and the countdown until Christmas was already much smaller than she remembered it being.

 

Suddenly, two buzzes from Trini’s phone pulled her out of her deep thoughts. She picked it up, looking at the two notifications on the screen. One text message from Jason, the other from Kim. She decided to open Jason’s first, ignoring the heavy thud of her heartbeat after seeing Kim’s name. (This crush has really gotten out of hand, but she’ll deal with that later. And by later, she means never.)

 

 **Jason [7:38PM]:** What does Kim like

 

Trini laughed slightly at the vagueness of the message.

 

 _Trini [7:39PM]:_ lots of things  
**Jason [7:40PM]:** thanks. But seriously, idk what to get her for secret santa  
_Trini: [7:40PM]:_ idk man, just buy her something nice. she likes harry potter, used to be a big fan of one direction, kittens  
_Trini [7:41PM]:_ sometimes she plays the sims all night and skips her first class to sleep  
**Jason [7:43PM]:** ………..okay.  
**Jason [7:43PM]:** Thanks for the help, t  
_Trini: [7:45PM]:_ wait  
**Jason [7:45PM]:** ?  
_Trini [7:47PM]:_ what would billy like?  
**Jason [7:49PM]:** let’s be honest, Billy would be happy with anything you give him.  
**Jason [7:50PM]:** but maybe look for some computer stuff?  
_Trini [7:52PM]:_ good idea, thanks  
**Jason [7:53PM]:** (thumbs up emoji)

 

Trini gulped as she closed the texting thread with Jason and clicked on Kimberly’s name, still showing an unread notification. At least with some kind of idea for Billy’s present, Trini was somewhat less nervous overall.

 

Kim <3<3 [7:38PM]: Wanna go to the mall on Friday for Christmas shopping?

 

Spending an entire evening with Kim at the mall during Christmas time? That just sounds like a lot of gay crush torture. Yet that isn’t enough to stop Trini’s thumbs from typing out her response and hitting send soon after.

  
_Trini [7:59PM]:_ i’ll have to ask my mom, but yeah sure  
**Kim <3<3 [8:00PM]:** Okay  
**Kim <3<3 [8:01PM]:** <3

With the click of a button, Trini turned off her phone and tossed it to the other end of her bed. A beat of silence. Then, with as much teenage angst she could muster, Trini shoved her face into her pillow and groaned.

 

Between her giant crush on Kimberly Hart and the need to buy a gift for Billy, Trini wasn’t entirely sure she could survive this holiday season.

  


**

  


“I actually don’t mind the cold,” Kim shrugged, keeping her hands firmly in her pockets despite the fact that they’d been on the bus for nearly ten minutes already. Trini had met up with her at the bus stop after school and texted Jason that they’d be missing training for the day. He wasn’t particularly happy, but he understood the need to go Christmas shopping. Time was running out, and as far as Trini knew, he hadn’t gotten his present for Kim yet either.

“I’m just not used to it, I guess,” Trini grumbled from under her own scarf. She folded her arms and kept her eyes locked on the window, but every now and then she’d catch Kim’s reflection staring at her. Why did Trini have to agree to doing this? The next few hours at the mall were going to be the longest hours of her life— if she lived through it.

 

Kimberly hummed quietly and pulled out her phone to scroll through Instagram. After a few moments, she added, “It’s a nice change from the usual.”

 

The remainder of the bus ride was silent. Trini watched the cars that drove by and tried to ignore Kim’s warmth next to her and the urge to sit closer, once again combating her gay thoughts. When they finally arrived at the stop closest to the mall, Trini was nothing short of relieved to be freed from the hell that is public transportation (and from being so close to Kim). Angel Grove Mall was a bright beacon of light amidst the darkness of night, swarmed by cars desperately looking for a parking spot. The thought of how many people were probably already _in_ the mall made Trini sick to her stomach, but there was no turning back now. Kimberly was already walking towards the entrance with no hesitation.

 

Inside, it wasn’t actually too bad. The mall was actually warm in a cozy way instead of overbearing; there were holiday decorations everywhere, lights hanging on the walls and Christmas trees in front of every other store. Classic holiday tunes played over the speakers, and Trini could at least appreciate the choice of songs. You can never go wrong with some George Michael.

 

“Where to first?” Kim asks, unlooping the scarf from around her neck. The Angel Grove mall wasn’t particularly big, but there was still a fair selection of stores to look at. They could go through the entire mall within an hour if they wanted to. For now though, without a specific destination, they could walk around until they found something.

 

They ended up stopping by a few stores right off the bat to look at things, while Kim bought a watch for her mother and a bottle of cologne for her dad. As they’d been walking through a clothing section of JC Penny, Trini overheard a little boy asking his mother “ _do you think the Power Rangers celebrate Christmas?”_

 

It took all of their strength for Kim and Trini to not laugh at that. (The moment they left the store, Kim completely lost it.)

 

“Are you getting anything for Secret Santa?” Trini questioned as they stood in line for pretzels at Auntie Anne’s. They were planning to grab food after the shopping, but it was hard to resist the sight of fresh pretzel bites.

 

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Kim smiled and shrugged, “if I see something.”

 

“I could help you if I knew who you had,” Trini said, rolling her eyes. All she received in response was a “lips sealed” motion from Kimberly before it was their turn to step up and order. Why did they both have to be such stubborn people?

 

Eventually, the two girls made it to the center of the mall where the giant Christmas tree was lit and children gathered to meet Santa Claus. The scenery was breathtaking with the decorations, festive music, and children’s laughter— so Trini pulled out her phone and took a few pictures. One of the large tree and a few of the decorations. Maybe even one of Santa Claus so that she could convince her brothers that oh, yeah, she most _definitely_ knew Santa personally. What Trini hadn’t noticed, though, was that Kim watched her take all of them.

 

“I didn’t know you liked Christmas so much,” Kim commented, eyes now focused on the big Christmas tree.

 

At that, Trini raised an eyebrow. “What, did you think I hated holidays or something?”

 

“No, I just mean— I didn’t think you were a big Christmas person…” Kimberly sputtered, visibly a little embarrassed. The statement had simply come out wrong, but that wouldn’t stop Trini from teasing her about it.

 

“So you thought I was the Grinch,” Trini smirked, nodding slowly. Kim only looked more flustered.

 

“No! Of course not, you’re—”

 

“It’s fine, I get it,” Trini interrupted to reassure her that she was not, in fact, offended by any of the previous comments. Kim shut her mouth and relaxed, letting Trini continue. “I don’t look like the most festive person in the world. But Christmas is nice.” She paused momentarily to watch a pair of little boys run by, followed by their shouting mother. Then, with a simple shrug, she added, “Seeing my little brothers get excited about presents and getting to spend time with them makes up for the whole spending-a-day-with-random-relatives thing.”

 

Not wanting to elaborate further on family business, Trini continued walking past the tree and other crowds of people to get a glimpse at some other stores. Luckily, the first store in sight is exactly what she was looking for. From the looks of it, it appeared to be some kind of computer store with different kinds of tech and computer equipment. Trini immediately began squeezing past strangers to get to the store’s entrance, not quite noticing that Kim was struggling to keep up with her.

 

There, on one of the window displays, was a pair of headphones. Nice, expensive headphones that had blue lights on the side. They were practically screaming the name Billy Cranston.

 

“Woah, those look perfect,” Kim breathed out after finally catching up and matching Trini’s gaze towards the headphones. The sound of her voice startled Trini, yet somehow the comment only solidified Trini’s decision to purchase them for Billy. After a nod to each other, the two of them entered the store and quickly grabbed the headphones from a shelf.

 

Eighty-five dollars. Trini didn’t expect them to be _cheap_ headphones, not in the slightest— but the price still made her hesitate a little bit. The Gomez household’s money situation isn’t the greatest around and Trini had a very limited budget for this Secret Santa thing, especially because it was only for one present. Eighty-five dollars might have been an issue for anyone else, but… it was for Billy. He deserved the best, and Trini was prepared to buy him these headphones if it was the last thing she ever did.

 

“He’ll really love these,” Kim whispered to her as they walked over to the cashier.

 

Trini couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah... he will.”

 

Five minutes and a bank account with eighty-five dollars less later, Trini was officially done with her Secret Santa shopping. With their biggest issue now out of the way, she was just about ready to head home. Kim was insisting on one last stop, though. One very, very uncomfortable and cringey last stop.

 

“I haven’t been inside of a Hot Topic since I was, like, ten,” Trini groaned, staring at the store full of anime merch and punk band t-shirts. Just the thought of stepping foot inside of a Hot Topic made her want to shrivel up and die, but Kim appeared to be very excited about going.

 

“Come on! It isn’t that bad, Trin,” Kim said, already walking into the store. Her attention instantly went to a package of Sailor Moon bracelets, and even though it was all so _nerdy_ Trini could at least appreciate how cute Kim was when she got excited. So she reluctantly went inside, eyes scanning the shelves for anything worth looking at. None of the brands or TV shows really appealed to her, except…

 

There was one hoodie hanging on a nearby rack. It was mostly black, which usually wasn’t her color much these days (not since they became the Power Rangers, at least). Though on the front was a print of Marceline the Vampire Queen from Adventure Time, and Trini was always a pretty big fan of her. Angsty, into girls, hot, and super cool? Marceline checked off everything on Trini’s list for relatable-favorite-characters.

 

The material was nice, and it seemed like this hoodie was the last one left; now would be the time to buy it, then. Trini held her breath, flipped over the price tag and read the numbers printed on it.

 

$60.

 

Nope.

 

“Are you going to buy that?” Kim questioned, sneaking up from behind Trini to peek at the hoodie. She nodded quietly in approval at the design.

 

“Ha. Yeah, no, I can’t really afford this. Let’s just get out of here,” Trini said, and regretfully let the price tag fall from her hand. Maybe another day, right? Christmas was right around the corner, so maybe one of her aunts would give her some money. As Trini headed for the store’s exit, she realized that Kim was still examining the Marceline hoodie. It took a moment for Kim to realize that Trini was waiting, to which she mumbled an apology and caught up to her.

 

The mall was already beginning to look emptier, people shuffling out with bags of presents from their day out shopping. Trini yawned as her and Kim left, the cold air making her shiver as soon as it touched her skin. The bus stop wasn’t too far away and the bus wouldn’t be coming for another five minutes, so they walked slowly to enjoy the night.

 

“Wanna come over and watch Christmas movies with me?” Kim nudged Trini with her elbow, hands once again in her pockets. Did… Kimberly Hart just offer to Netflix and chill with her? No. No, that’s not what she meant at all. Kim just wanted to hang out and watch Christmas movies to celebrate the holiday season. Right? Right. Of course. They’re friends. But still, the offer surprised Trini. So much so that she was totally silent for a good… thirty seconds. She should probably respond.

 

“Uh,” Trini cleared her throat, hiding her embarrassment. “I’m pretty sure my mom wants me home in, like, less than an hour.”

 

Kimberly was undeterred. “Then we can go to _your_ house and watch Christmas movies.” Her eyes were so hopeful, so expectant that Trini’s resistance completely crumbled. When Kim looked _this_ cute while asking to hang out, there was no way Trini could deny her of it. Even if it meant sitting through A Christmas Story and Love Actually.

 

“Fine,” Trini sighed. “But my mom can’t see you, so use my window.”

  


**

  


All of the Rangers met up two days before Christmas at Jason’s house to conduct the official gift exchanging ceremony. His mom had baked cookies for them and left them on a large plate in the living room, which was now almost empty. Zack insisted that he really didn’t eat that many, but Billy claims that he counted ten cookies eaten by Zack. Jason had put his Christmas music playlist on loop again, and as he stood to begin the gift exchange Trini could faintly hear the tune of Santa Baby from his speaker.

 

“Alright,” Jason announced, standing from his spot on the couch and picking up his wrapped present. “I’ll give out my gift first.” Zack took that as a cue to begin a dramatic drumroll by tapping his hands on the side of the couch. The red ranger held out the box, faked giving it to Zack, and then handed it over to Kim. Everyone began cheering in excitement, including Trini despite the fact that she already knew who Jason had gotten. The atmosphere was contagious, after all.

 

It didn’t take long for Kim to rip apart the wrapping paper only to reveal a white box underneath. Upon opening it, she gasped at the sight of a Harry Potter t-shirt and a $20 gift card for the Sims.

 

“Thanks, Jace!” She laughed, holding the t-shirt up to her body to ensure that it would fit. Jason looked proud of himself, and when no one else was looking, gave Trini two thumbs up for the help.

 

As Kim started to put her gifts away to the side, Billy stood up as a sign that he’d be handing out his present next. Zack commenced the drumroll again with Jason joining in this time as backup. He didn’t take long at all for a big reveal, simply handing his present over to a pleasantly surprised Zack. They all watched as Zack unwrapped it, fingers peeling the wrapping paper away until an Adidas logo became visible on the box. There was a momentary pause as Zack stared at it, processing that, yes, this is a brand new pair of sneakers, before he eagerly pulled the box open to see the shoes themselves.

 

Black high-tops with a white lightning bolt on the outsides, extremely fitting for the black ranger.

 

“These are awesome, dude!” Zack exclaimed, holding his hand up for an enthusiastic high five from Billy. “You’re the man, Billy! I’m wearing these during training next week for sure.”

 

And with Billy so pleased with the reaction to his gift, that was Trini’s perfect moment. No interlude or dramatic build up necessary, even if the walk over to Billy’s spot felt abnormally long due to increased anxiety. Billy looked at her curiously and slowly pieced everything together.

 

“Merry Christmas, Billy,” Trini said, giving Billy the box she’d wrapped earlier that morning. He methodically opened the present, careful not to rip any of it in too much excitement, and Trini watched in relief as his face lit up with joy upon seeing the headphones. Zack made some _ooh, aah_ sounds from behind as everyone crowded around to look at the box.

 

“These are so cool!” Billy shouted happily, flipping the box around the read about the different features. His smile was so wide and laughter so pure that Trini finally felt as if she could breathe again, anxiety finally lifted from her chest. The present was a success. “Thank you, Trini! I’ll send you lots of pictures when I use them later.”

 

Suddenly Zack was interrupting their bonding moment in order to hold up his own gift bag. “Okay, okay, my turn,” Zack insisted. “Heads up, J!” With a light toss, the bag was landing safely in Jason’s lap much to his surprise. Now curious, Jason pulled out the tissue paper from it and then the actual gift itself: one of the Madden NFL video games for Xbox. It was definitely last year’s edition rather than this year’s, most likely due to price. Jason looked amused by the video game regardless.

 

“It’ll be like you’re on the field again, except I’ll be better at it than you,” Zack teased, jabbing a finger at Jason’s arm to receive a laugh in return.

 

“You’re on, dude,” Jason retorted.

 

Their exchange was so entertaining that Trini nearly forgot that she was the only one without a gift, and there was only one possible person left who could be her Secret Santa. She glanced over to find Kimberly already holding out the gift, a smug look on her face.

 

“I can’t believe you,” Trini said, shaking her head and taking the gift bag. Kim’s smile got bigger.

 

“Are you really surprised?”

 

She made a fair point there. This is exactly like something Kimberly Hart would do; take your giftee out shopping and never say a word that would reveal that you, in fact, have them for Secret Santa. And to top it all off, she executed it with just the right amount of extra. So, no, Trini couldn’t be that surprised.

 

What _did_ surprise her was the gift itself. Trini pulled out the hoodie from the gift bag and immediately recognized it as the Marceline hoodie she’d seen in Hot Topic when they visited the mall. She was speechless, really, until she noticed the Krispy Kreme gift card taped to the front of the hoodie as well.

 

“You didn’t have to get me a gift card too, princess. The sweater is nice enough,” Trini laughed, looking at the card that would be good for $25. Kim awkwardly shifted beside her, posture slightly more straightened out.

 

“I know. I was just hoping you could take me out on a date with it.”

 

Wait… what?

 

Trini felt the heat rush straight to her cheeks, gay panic and anxiety pumping through her veins. The most she could manage was a nervous laugh. “Ha-ha, very funny,” Trini said. Kim can’t be serious, right?

 

But Kim very seriously replied, “No, I’m— I’m serious.”

 

She’s serious. Kimberly Hart wants to go on a date with Trini, and all Trini could do was sit there while looking shook.

 

“Say yes! You’re already gay for her,” somewhere across the room, Zack whispered at a louder-than-whispers-should-be volume. Billy and Jason snickered faintly.

 

And, well, Kim was staring at her as if this was the most nerve-wracking thing she’d done in years and her eyes were slowly starting to lose their hopefulness— and Trini was just so gay. A giant gay panic was occurring inside of her mind, but there was no way she’d let this opportunity go.

 

“Um— yeah. We can— we can go on a date. I’d like that,” Trini managed to breathe out, and suddenly everyone was cheering again. Kimberly was smiling. Her own heart was still nervous, but this time it was in a good way; a way that made her excited for the new year and most importantly her future date with Kim.

 

“Alright guys, my mom made some food if we’re ready to eat,” Jason said. Billy made a sound of confirmation and Zack was the first one to jump off of the couch, ready to devour whatever was put on his plate. They all began walking to the kitchen together and while they did, Kim couldn’t help but smile over at Trini. Trini couldn’t help but smile back, either.

 

There was no doubt in anyone’s mind that this whole Secret Santa thing was a success for the rangers.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, y'all! Comments/kudos are always appreciated.
> 
> (I promise I'll be getting to the Overwatch AU fic soon, don't worry. I had to complete this first.)


End file.
